May, 2004

The 22nd Annual Savona Easter Meet
By John McClintock

Day 1
What a delight, the sunny and warm forecast brings out 14 flyers and several ground support crew. The weather really had the attendance down the last couple of years, so we were due for something better - may the weather forecast be twice as good next year!

Dan Keen must follow those weather links he puts up on web sites, as he brought his skis as well as his glider .. well, even Judy came along, so she must have believed in the weather forecast too. We've seen Dan do this ski thing on other easter weekends, too.

And we even had an Alberta license plate again, haven't seen one of those at Easter for quite some time. Dennis and Deny get recognition for the longest driving distance. Deny looked pretty pleased with that crispy 2nd hand wing he just bought, which certainly made the trip worth while. Many happy landings, mate!

Brad gets special mention for being the only paraglider pilot in attendance, for the first two days. Rumour had it that Gary Nesbit was the pilot working the end of the lake site on the last day. Once again, the stiffies rule the skies at Oscars! Come to think of it though, the winds never got too strong for paragliding all weekend - the invites' always open, come on para people!

In our usual informal way, a few mini-meetings pass the morning by, and we end up stuffing battens behind launch. Mark Dowsett was kind enough to offer computerized scoring, but John stuck with the Chelan open style of XC challenge that was used last year. It took several past participants to recall the basic rules, which were:
- straight line distance scored per kilometer
- out & returns were a 30% bonus, triangles 50% bonus, both of which require a minimum 50% return on the last leg
- minimum triangle leg 28%
- out & returns and triangles would close in a 400m cylinder around the wind ribbons in the International LZ
- after a first task of out & return or triangle, all subsequent distance is scored as straight line (only one bonus will be scored)

Unlike Chelan, where designated turnpoints must be used, at Oscar's you can set your own turnpoints and your XC route will be maximized from the GPS track log. (Thanks again Mark) And one bonus feature wasn't mentioned at the pilots meeting, but it probably made no difference in the flight plans that were chosen by the pilots:
100 bonus points for ending your flight in the regular landing field. Maybe I'll try printing off the rules before the meet next year - there will be a 23rd annual you bet.

Jeff Remple provided a surprise for me. The price of winter storage, I had asked him if there was room on his ride to get my glider up to Savona. Too many litespeeds, too little time, Jeff brings the biggest one instead of the smallest one. Jeff assures me Jim Scholls won't mind if I fly his glider .. the thermals seem light .. all other gliders seem taken .. the choice was simple - thanks Jim, she flies rather nice, probably real easy with a higher wing loading.

The day seemed rather marginal, the potato effect was profound. Leo, from Mexico, is just transiting the beginner stage, and is lucky enough to be stationed in Kamloops for awhile. Our wind technician illustrates the turmoils, and I'm surprised the potatoes still have roots. Fine, I'll go. But wait, now that my helmut is on and I'm hooked in, has it dropped off? Sure seems light. Should I stay or should I go? Connie says she will retrieve if I burn out, so I'm away.

Yah just gotta love how good Oscars' works. That little hill is supreme. The lift slows down around 2000 over, but a little later one can punch through. The report is four pilots get up, the next four fall out. OK, the flip side of Oscars', it sure can be over in a hurry when you don't get anything to work with. Dan and Jeff took second flights, and managed to score some XC points along the ridge.

Jon Orders was catching up, the lift has dropped off, so it's time to be off. Soon that world class glider is out ahead, and Mark is passing me too. Too late for ballast, and looking back watching those other qualified pilots burning out has me deciding to hold back in marginal lift. Jon and Mark become little spots on the northern horizon. I become glad just to be soaring. Circles are fun, altitude is nice. Where did they go? Time warp, oh yeah, need mileage - 10,000 is rather cool .. I half-heartedly point west, but soon return to the ridge and head to the International LZ to close the out & return. Soaring is fun, so I head up and back 10k on the ridge, for a 3 hour flight. It's neat watching Jeff's determination to get mileage on his second flight, working the tree line northbound, but too low to get any lift as this day is stabling out. Dan managed to top out better near launch, a prime ingredient when applying the L/D equation.

Leo got a second flight, and is all grins, enjoying longer flights than ever before. We all revel with his enthusiasm, as he transitions into soaring flight.

Jon and Mark were off on a triangle. Mark was surprised that Jon kept going past Basil's Bump, and that was about where Jon ended up, after checking out the horizontal air at the junction of the north valley. Mark made it back to the International, for the only triangle of the day!

Most everyone ended up at the local pub, enjoying the fine weather and view from the deck. The beer and dinner special were well received, and there was a hockey game on as well.

Jon is competition director at WCSC if I'm not mistaken, so it was a bit of a twist when I was mistaken at first, on how to score an unsuccessful triangle attempt. All of the kilometers counted, there just wasn't any bonus, so Jon ended up with 3rd for the day. And only a day it would be, as he had to head back to the City, back to being a dad. We eventually find out that Jon was there for the best of the soaring conditions.

Day 2
Dan & Judy are off fairly early to ski at Sun Peaks - good call Dan. This day will be more of a test of patience. The stable look and feel of the air has several of us moving slow. My inertia at the International is contagious, as several of us socialize while sunning. Eventually we show up at launch, and good ol' Oscars is working better than would be expected. But is it soarable?

Maybe Charles' glider is set up and available? No, it's looking better so Charles is up for it! But Dave Wagner says try mine - OK - what, it's not set up. Hurry hurry rush, and soon the hang height is checked and I'm out there.

The minimum distance for a valid task is 10k. It's soarable, so I decide to head north. There's nothing, as I remember watching Jeff glide onward and downward yesterday. The ground speed picks up as I drop lower into the valley, the southerly flow overpowering any thermal grouping that might otherwise occur. I watch as the probable 10k limit climbs on the horizon. Too soon I am one with the horizon. Damn, the glider is one with the horizon too! What a useless way to trash my parts record - the Climax of 21 years without any replacement parts, now a downtube.

Conditions were stable enough that nobody else attempted 'crashing' through the 10k hurdle.

Dan remembered a good pub meal from last year's longest day celebration, so we had a good group head off to Kamloops for some variety in our cuisine. Beer and pub food again, actually! Another hockey game on the tube, the usual.

It was a pleasant night for a camp fire at the end of the lake, where a few flyers were taking advantage of the open gate / closed facilities no charge camping. The group was getting small by the time the beer launch happened.

Day 3
What to do when the wind starts blowing east in the valley? So often Oscar's is launchable and even soarable despite the breeze in the LZ. Then again, so often it is not lauchable … so the decision is made to go to the Pimple. The prairie dreamers decide to have a practice towing day instead, over at Douglas Ranch. Barry was reported as 50k off tow, for the best flight of the day - no points for the Oscar's fly-in though.

When we arrived at launch, it was flyable and it could very well develop into soarable, so 5 gliders are taken off the roof racks. As Dave starts setting up, a small ding is discovered on the leading edge. This must have been from the wind pushing on the glider during breakdown ..- don't trust those hay fields, they're not as smooth as they appear. The desire to fly someone else's glider (Jim's big litespeed) diminishes rapidly, and the soaring conditions are not materializing. I decide not to fly. Dave decides not to fly.

The cycles are few and far between, and rather cross when they do visit. The locals aren't flying, and soon Dennis and Deny are breaking down too. Bob Krider was eager to try a new site, and eventually got out there. It didn't look like fun, and sure enough, the report from the landing field was something to the effect of don't anybody else bother. For the record, the Pimple is a lousy scary situation when the wind is crossing from the south.

So there it was, fizzling out before our very eyes. The 22nd annual Easter Fly-in was over. Congratulations Mark, nice flying. Congratulations Leo, nice to have you in the soaring ranks.

Hope to see all the same faces, and many more next year! Cheers.